At least most of your suppliers have probably got rid of the "skip intro movies" from their websites
Looking back over several years' worth of these editor's columns is, as you'd imagine, quite entertaining. But not in a "wasn't technology quaint?" way. No, more frustratingly, it's completely the opposite: most of the things which I was appealing for five years ago on behalf of customers still haven't been done today.
Sure, at least most of your suppliers have probably got rid of the "skip intro movies" from their websites. But other than that, most manufacturers' internet activity probably consists of a website which is a company brochure/catalogue and, er, that's it.
Where's the stuff which would be really helpful to have on a website, like manuals, eDrawings, interactive selection applications, certificates, and other stuff you don't want to have to ring up the company to find out if it exists? Unbelievably in 2006, how few of your suppliers have an email technical bulletin with which they keep you up-to-date? How many have an RSS feed for technical updates which you can plug into? This is all simple stuff, the absence of which might have been explainable five years ago, but not now.
In almost every case, they aren't serving their customers properly online (or taking advantage of the wider market available) because somebody senior just has no idea what's going on out there. At these companies, online customer support, not to mention online sales and marketing, is being treated as just another item which has to be squeezed into the marketing budget somewhere, like it's an extra brochure to be printed. In 2005, this is nothing short of astonishing.
What's happened is the equivalent of a huge new retail park having been built out of town. Every shopper goes there now, and not just the local ones - people are travelling vast distances to visit it. It's heaving with people, all the time. Not only is shopping at this new retail park easier than back in the village, but the retailers there have the facilities to serve their customers better, with more stock on display, and decent in-store advice and facilities. No wonder 90% of shoppers only go to this one vast site now. In their new stores, the smaller retailers look much more professional, and the bigger retailers come across as impressively as their customers expect.
Back in the villages, the bored shop staff tell the shop owners that it might be a good idea to stop imagining the customers are going to come back, and to stop wasting resources on all sorts of sales initiatives which haven't worked for years. Perhaps they should spend these savings on a proper unit at the retail park. "Nonsense", says the shop owner, "that's not the way it happened in my day. Anyway, we're at the retail park. I paid the chap round the corner to make a poster to put up there, telling shoppers that we're still here! Tell you what, let's pay some kids to go and put a few leaflets through people's doors."
But nobody was at home.
Sure, at least most of your suppliers have probably got rid of the "skip intro movies" from their websites. But other than that, most manufacturers' internet activity probably consists of a website which is a company brochure/catalogue and, er, that's it.
Where's the stuff which would be really helpful to have on a website, like manuals, eDrawings, interactive selection applications, certificates, and other stuff you don't want to have to ring up the company to find out if it exists? Unbelievably in 2006, how few of your suppliers have an email technical bulletin with which they keep you up-to-date? How many have an RSS feed for technical updates which you can plug into? This is all simple stuff, the absence of which might have been explainable five years ago, but not now.
In almost every case, they aren't serving their customers properly online (or taking advantage of the wider market available) because somebody senior just has no idea what's going on out there. At these companies, online customer support, not to mention online sales and marketing, is being treated as just another item which has to be squeezed into the marketing budget somewhere, like it's an extra brochure to be printed. In 2005, this is nothing short of astonishing.
What's happened is the equivalent of a huge new retail park having been built out of town. Every shopper goes there now, and not just the local ones - people are travelling vast distances to visit it. It's heaving with people, all the time. Not only is shopping at this new retail park easier than back in the village, but the retailers there have the facilities to serve their customers better, with more stock on display, and decent in-store advice and facilities. No wonder 90% of shoppers only go to this one vast site now. In their new stores, the smaller retailers look much more professional, and the bigger retailers come across as impressively as their customers expect.
Back in the villages, the bored shop staff tell the shop owners that it might be a good idea to stop imagining the customers are going to come back, and to stop wasting resources on all sorts of sales initiatives which haven't worked for years. Perhaps they should spend these savings on a proper unit at the retail park. "Nonsense", says the shop owner, "that's not the way it happened in my day. Anyway, we're at the retail park. I paid the chap round the corner to make a poster to put up there, telling shoppers that we're still here! Tell you what, let's pay some kids to go and put a few leaflets through people's doors."
But nobody was at home.
posted by Chris on Thursday, September 01, 2005
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